Whitney Tilson's School Reform Blog: Iraq Soldier Comments on Daughter’s Red Hook School

Wow, this is an AMAZING op ed by a soldier serving in Iraq whose daughter attends PAVE Academy, an elementary charter school in Red Hook, Brooklyn. This charter school, like most in NYC, has been given space by the DOE, despite the political hit that Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein take when they do this. Under the new mayoral control law, a public hearing is required when each charter school's space is renewed – and you won't be surprised to hear that the union and various other anti-charter nitwits try to stack these hearings with rabble-rousers who try to create as many headaches as possible, no matter how good the charter school is (or how bad the public school alternatives are) and how much room there is in the building. The only thing that matters to them is which school is unionized. This parent writes about what he observed:

what I witnessed and experienced was so sad and disappointing. The constituents of PAVE and PS 15 were debating whether there is space in the building for two schools to continue to co-locate. One after the other, parents and teachers from both sides stood up to express their frustrations and concerns about the prospect of this. For the most part the debate was civil and respectful.

The curious thing to me was the number of speakers who don't live in Red Hook and don't have children in either school: a high-ranking representative of the UFT, representatives from Grassroots Education Reform (GEM)- an organization I now know vehemently opposes charter schools, the president from Community Education Council 1, or a high school teacher whose school faces closure. Their commentary against PAVE and its extended co-location was the most incensed. Whose interests are these agitators looking out for?

The building is meant to educate approximately 725 students. This year it has slightly over 500 students enrolled between the two schools. There is no reason this building cannot support PAVE's growth and continued co-location for a few more years. The building belongs to the taxpayers of New York City. It should be celebrated that it is being operated efficiently and that as many students as possible receive a great education inside its walls.

In less than a week, I return to Iraq and more conflict and fighting. My sincere wish is that while I am gone the fighting surrounding PAVE's co-location within P.S. 15 also stops. Petty adult concerns and politics need to be set aside for what is in the best interest in children. Providing children with an outstanding education that will prepare them for college is hard work that requires intense focus. Our children deserve this.

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Iraq Soldier Comments on Daughter's Red Hook School

by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 02-01-2010